Nintendo’s E3 message: Wii U games are coming, just not quite yet

Titles like Smash Bros. and Mario Kart 8 won't hit until next year.

Mega Man is determined to make it into Smash Bros., but he won't get there until next year.

Nintendo

Nintendo may not have had a traditional press conference at this year's E3, but it used a Nintendo Direct video presentation this morning to prove that the Wii U isn't shrinking away from new competition in the form of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. The 45-minute-long presentation showed quite a variety of new and old franchises for the Wii U from both third-party developers and Nintendo itself. The only problem, as far as Wii U owners are concerned, is that some of the most interesting announcements won't become actual games until next year.

Want the first-ever HD Mario Kart game? You'll have to wait until the spring of 2014. Want to play as Mega Man in a new Smash Bros. game (I know I do)? It will happen… next year. The exclusive sequel to the stylish and fatal Bayonetta still exists after its long media silence, but it won't hit Wii U consoles until next year. A new open-world adventure franchise called X from the creators of Xenosaga looks intriguing, but you won't be playing it until… yup, 2014.

A system's second holiday season is usually when its game library really starts to mature and we get to see what that system can really do. Given that, it's a bad sign that some of Nintendo's biggest franchises won't be able to make the crucial holiday sales rush this year.

Not that Nintendo's lineup for the holidays will be empty. The company will have a Wii U update to the delightful isometric platformer Super Mario 3D Land called Super Mario 3D World in December. We won't get a new Zelda game for the Wii U any time in the fear future, but that HD update to The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, which comes with a few Wii U exclusive features, will be ready by October. A new Donkey Kong Country 2D side-scroller is coming this year, too, as well as a new Wii Fit that makes use of a "fit meter" and a new Wii Party game. And don't forget that exclusive Sonic game, Lost World.

Nintendo also stressed that the Wii U will be getting ports of some of the year's biggest third-party titles, showing them off in rapid succession during the video presentation. Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, Batman Arkham Origins, Disney Infinity, Just Dance 2014, Rayman Legends, Scribblenauts Unlimited: A DC Comics Adventure, Disney's Planes, Skylanders SWAP Force, Splinter Cell: Blacklist, and Watch Dogs will all be appearing on the Wii U as well as other systems. While that's all well and good, there are still plenty of third-party games that are not getting Wii U ports, and there are precious few titles from outside developers that will be exclusive to the Wii U (save for the delightful-looking superhero adventure The Wonderful 101).

Nintendo's video presentation this morning succeeded in its job of making sure people don't forget that Nintendo's system still exists in the wake of Sony and Microsoft's marketing onslaught. But the overriding message was that Nintendo's slow trickle of games wouldn't be changing to a flood any time soon, and players will be forced to wait for some of the console's biggest and most expected franchises.

Kyle Orland / Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in the Washington, DC area.